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Retreats have always been important to me personally. They’ve always been helpful. That has been the case since one of the first retreats I ever went on.
Back when I was in high school, my sending Diocese held a trip to England and Taizé, France for the youth. I was right on the age line for the trip, so at a Christmas party for the leader, our Bishop Suffragan at the time Marc Andrus, my family and I gave Bishop Andrus a hard time about this fact. He took it seriously and got the leadership for the trip to make an exception. I wasn’t sure at first, but then I saw the price of the trip, which was incredibly reasonable. I felt I had to go.
And while we were there, we went to Winchester Cathedral, the place, I would learn much later, where Jane Austin in buried. While we were there, our group performed a ceremony. It was there in the back behind the main altar that Bishop Andrus asked me, “what’s on your mind?” Before I could even think, I blurted out, “Am I to be a priest?”
That’s a lot for a 15 year old to handle. Thankfully the second week of the trip took us to Taizé, an ecumenical community all about singing, prayer, and silence.
It was there I started to think through what this event back in Winchester meant. I didn’t yet have answers, but I did feel closer to God, and it was the start of my paving the way that brought me here today.
Retreats are important. They bring us closer to God. They help us think and reflect, particularly when something big, important, or strange happens in our lives.
This is the reason that Jesus models this course of action for us today. In Mark we hear of Jesus’ Baptism, how God the Father calls down to Him from Heaven, and how Jesus then goes out in the desert for 40 days to fast and pray.
We don’t know how Jesus felt on hearing the Father’s voice, but we do know that this is a big thing. This is a very big deal. God the Father just called Jesus out. The Father just told Him that He is His Son. That’s not a thing to take lightly.
And Jesus doesn’t. He goes out to the desert to fast and pray. He even faces the evil one. Jesus takes this moment seriously and goes on retreat to sift through what has happened.
Jesus once again is showing us what it means to be human. Jesus once again is leading us by example.
When we come across something big, especially if it is spiritual, we should take the time to investigate it. We should take the time to think on it. We should take the time to retreat.
We all have different means. For some, retreating will be an easy thing, perhaps both in time and money. For others that might be more difficult. Yet we all can carve out an hour or two a day to just think, maybe even journal. It doesn’t take much for us to go on retreat. We just have to be willing to do it.
Retreats are a way for us to reflect on what God is working in us so that we can move closer to the Lord. They are important enough that Jesus Himself went on one. If you get the opportunity, particularly in this time of Lent, take some retreat time too. You might find it’s just what you need to get closer to our Lord.